Hello,

There is an exhaust leak on my 93 945T (100K) where the downpipe meets the back of the turbo. I can feel the wind of the exhaust with my hand when the engine is cold. There is quite a bit of noise from the engine at 3000rpm and vibrating dash etc. I haven't checked with my hand with a hot engine, but the car is pretty loud.

There are three bolts connecting the downpipe to the back of the turbo. Is there a gasket in between? I gather that there is not a gasket between turbo and engine, but suspect that there is one here. What should I do? Try and tighten the bolts? They are not too rusted (FL car).

How hard is it to change the gasket, assuming that there is one? Do I need to loosen anything else on the exhaust? It is getting cold out and I will probably need to do this on the streets of Manhattan unless I take it to a shop.

Thank you,
Steve

I have never seen a gasket there on any turbos. You should have a bracket around the downpipe bolted to the engine/tranny block. It may be missing.
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I may be confused with the terminology. Do you know of a diagram of what the system should look like?

The leak is at the front (under the hood) of the pipe that goes to the catalytic converter. There are three bolts that connect this pipe to the fitting comming from the turbo.

Thanks,
Steve

The downpipe is connected to the turbo, and runs to the converter. The clamp/bracket is above where the downpipe bends to go to the converter. I have seen no gasket where the 3 bolts/studs connect to the turbo. If the clamp is missing, the pipe is prone to move around.
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Ok great! I get it. I will have to check if the bracket is there or not. Assuming that it is, should I try and tighten the bolts? How much leakage is normal for a cold engine?

I have been wondering if it is time to replace the catalytic converter. I can't tell exactly where the loud sound is comming from (engine area or catalytic converter) but it seems like the engine area. I am worried about the cat falling apart inside and clogging the rest of the exhaust.

Thanks again,
Steve

There should not be any exhaust gas leakage -- hot or cold.

Don't worry about the cat clogging your exhaust... that will never happen. Mufflers have a tremendous capacity to "breath" or pass air. I doubt the material from 10 cats would be enough to clog the exhaust system. Cats themselves are what's most likely to clog in an exhaust system -- and even then only when you have an extraorinarily rich running engine.

jp
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Jeff Pierce (Post back with your results... it's what makes this forum work.)

Thanks.

It does look like the bracket for the exhaust is missing. I need to double check from below, but I don't see it from looking down the pipe from the hood.

Years ago (1995) my the cat on my 740 went and the dealership said that it clogged the rest of the mufflers. They replaced the mufflers under the volvo warranty. The car would only go 20mph.

I will try and stick with your advice - don't fix it until it's broken.

Steve

If the bracket is missing, usually a junkyard item. You should be able to tell where it was located. Before I would try and tighten them. I would spray some PBlaster on the nuts/studs so you don't twist any off. If the bracket is still there, you can loosen the bracket, and the 3 studs, you should be able to move/twist the downpipe by hand for better alignment to the turbo, then tighten the nuts, and the bracket last.
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